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REACHING OUT TO NEIGHBORS WITH COMPASSION

empty bowls | october 12, 2025 | scroll down for tickets

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empty bowls | october 12, 2025 | scroll down for tickets 〰️

Facilitating ACCESS TO HUMAN AND SOCIAL SERVICES such as food, medical care, education and immigration challenges

Our Mission

The International Friendship Center is a 501c (3) organization facilitating services that bridge the gap between struggle and security for people in hardship. In partnership with our communities, we help provide opportunities for adults and children to obtain basic human and social needs as well as assistance with challenges facing immigrants. We serve individuals and families who live or work in the Highlands, Franklin and Cashiers, NC area.

  • Thanks to the ELL program, it gives us confidence to prepare ourselves and encourages us to make decisions that will change our lives.

    A.

  • I am very proud to belong to the Women’s Group in Cashiers. Thank you for creating and supporting this program. For helping and giving more value to women. For helping us trust more in ourselves, to bring out that great potential that we carry within us. For strengthening and ratifying that we can do great things. Thank you so much.

    M.

  • I am happy in the group. The first thing is that I haven’t interacted with people in many years and now I feel good to be among friends, talking and learning from them. And that encourages me to go to meetings or go to events like the business event.

    M. G.

  • I consider the ELL classes to be a very important tool for my learning of this language. And I still consider what I am learning to be very useful in my daily life, for example to go to the store or at work.

    M.

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Sponsor

In partnership with the Highlands United Methodist Church, the Highlands Food Pantry provides food assistance to residents of Highlands and the surrounding communities. The pantry offers a variety of produce, protein, dairy, grains and a wide selection of non-perishable items. Additionally, we facilitate nutrition education workshops and cooking classes in the pantry space and beyond. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide clients with a bounty of healthy and nutritious items as well as the knowledge the need to make best use of those items.

Learn More

Sunday, October 12th, will mark the 14th annual Empty Bowls fundraiser, a collaboration between the International Friendship Center (IFC) and the First Presbyterian Church of Highlands to raise critical funds for the Highlands Food Pantry. Last year’s event was the most successful in its history, a remarkable outpouring of generosity that came at a time when the community was still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Helene. We continue to see rising need, with many families still working through the long-term effects of Helene alongside the ongoing pressures of the rising cost of living. Empty Bowls is a tradition that not only fills the pantry shelves but also fills the community with hope and solidarity.

Empty bowls

highlands food pantry

The International Friendship Center facilitates human and social services that bridge the gap between hardship and self-directed sufficiency. Assistance is offered according to need reported by the client. Direct services may include any or all of the following: Food Security, Medical and Dental, Housing and Utilities, Education, Safety, and Immigration.

what we do

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